Beware of Internet Scams and Schemes

There are all types of schemes and scams used by criminals or unscrupulous businesses to gather personal information about you or to take money from you. These scams include fake job postings, mail order scams, work-from-home scams, reshipping scams, and medical billing scams.

Don’t panic; there are things you can do to avoid these scams and ensure your personal and private information is not compromised by one of these schemes.

Fake Job Postings
One scheme that has become increasingly popular and effective for these criminals is posting fake job opportunities in the hopes that people will apply for the job online and provide key personal information, allowing the criminals to access bank accounts, credit cards, etc. At AkronWorks.com, we endeavor to be sure that every job posted on our site is a real job with a real company. However, we cannot be 100% certain that a bogus job posting is not listed on the site. To make sure you are not the victim of a fake job posting scam, you may want to follow the tips below.

Never provide your social security number to a prospective employer online.
Never provide any credit card information to a prospective employer.
Never perform any type of monetary transaction related to applying for a job online.
Be very cautious when dealing with prospective employers whose main contact is outside the United States.
Do not provide additional personal information to a prospective employer online or over the telephone. This information includes the following:
Social Security Number
Mother’s maiden name
Marital status
Pet’s names
Number of children or children’s names

Earn $$$ from the Comfort of Your Own Home
This is a headline that catches many people’s attention when looking for a job. Unfortunately, it is also a headline that sometimes leads to trouble. While home-based employment is a vital and growing segment of employment, it is also an area filled with potential problems.

The general rule of thumb when pursuing work-from-home opportunities is to do your research up front. There are legitimate work-from-home opportunities like answering customer service calls or processing orders via telephone. The validity of these companies can easily be verified by contacting the local Chamber of Commerce, Better Business Bureau, or the Federal Trade Commission. You can also verify the validity of these businesses by asking for references from other employees, by meeting in person with the prospective employer, and by researching the company and their history.

However, there are a lot of illegitimate and unscrupulous companies out there looking to take advantage of you. Any work-from-home opportunity that asks you to pay a start-up fee or to buy a “business starter kit” should be looked at with great suspicion. After all, a true employer should pay you, not the other way around. The bottom line with work-from-home opportunities is do your homework and verify the company is legitimate before you perform any work for them.

Reshipping and Lost Package Scams
A reshipping scam or lost package recovery business is another work-from-home scheme that will ultimately cost you money. These scams offer to send you a CD with contact information and special software to help you find and track lost or delayed packages. You are then encouraged to contact the shipping company to attempt to get a refund for the shipper. Unfortunately, there are no refunds to be had and the company offering this work-from-home opportunity has already taken your money to send you the software. Again, be very wary of any employment offer that requires you to pay any type of up-front or start-up fee.

Medical Billing
The ads look like a great opportunity, but the reality is these opportunities rarely turn out to be what they are described as. Read the full article authored by the Federal Trade Commission at http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/invest/medbill.htm

Federal and Postal Job Scams
“You never have to pay for information about job vacancies or employment opportunities with the U.S. government or U.S. Postal Service. But some fraudulent promoters are victimizing many Americans by selling information about federal job opportunities. These scam artists advertise in the classified sections of newspapers and offer - for a fee - to help job seekers find and apply for federal jobs. Some fraudulent companies even try to confuse consumers by using names that sound like those of federal agencies, like the "U.S. Agency for Career Advancement" or the "Postal Employment Service."” Read the full article authored by the Federal Trade Commission at http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/alerts/fedjobs.htm

You have the power to protect yourself from all these scams and schemes. In every case, if you have questions about the validity of a prospective employer, ask questions like the following:

Where is your company located? (be specific - street, city, state)
Who will I be reporting to?
Exactly what tasks will I be asked to perform?
What company will be paying me?
When could I expect my first paycheck?

If you believe you have been the victim of any online scam, the Federal Trade Commission maintains information and resources you can use. More information is available at http://www.FTC.gov
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